Before the FAQ...

A note for users of ARM Cortex-M MCUs

Most support requests on ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers
result from issues attributed to incorrect interrupt priority assignment.
FreeRTOS V7.5.0 and on-wards includes configASSERT() calls to trap this
common source of user error. Please ensure configASSERT() is defined during
development.

In addition, the following two online resources are provided:

A page dedicated to explaining the
ARM Cortex-M interrupt behaviour, and how it relates to the
FreeRTOSConfig.h settings relevant to interrupt nesting.

A note about configASSERT()

The configASSERT() macro is provided to
help trap user errors. Please ensure configASSERT() is defined while developing
or debugging your FreeRTOS application.

Other help resources

After reading this FAQ, if you are still having issues, other support resources
include the quick start guide
(which includes links to useful pages within the FreeRTOS.org web site), and the
official support system.

I don't know - its your application - but here are some common solutions:

The application I created compiles, but does not run
Each official FreeRTOS port comes with an official demo that (at
least at the time of its creation) compiles and executes on the hardware platform
on which it was developed without any modification.
The demo projects are provided to ensure new users can get started with FreeRTOS
in the quickest possible time, and with the minimum of fuss. It is always
recommended that a new FreeRTOS project is created by starting with, and then
adapting, one of the provided pre-configured demos. Doing this ensures the new
project includes all the necessary source and header files, and installs the
necessary interrupt service routines, with no effort on the part of the project's creator.

If the project you have created is compiling, and at least executing up to
the point that the scheduler is started, but only a single task is executing
or no tasks are executing at all after the call to
vTaskStartScheduler(), then it is
likely that the interrupt vector table is incorrect.

All FreeRTOS ports use a timer interrupt, and some FreeRTOS ports use
multiple interrupts. Use the provided demo projects as an example.

Special note to ARM Cortex-M users:
ARM Cortex-M3, ARM Cortex-M4 and ARM Cortex-M4F ports need FreeRTOS handlers to be
installed on the SysTick, PendSV and SVCCall interrupt vectors. The vector
table can be populated directly with the FreeRTOS defined xPortSysTickHandler(),
xPortPendSVHandler() and vPortSVCHandler() functions respectively, or, if
the interrupt vector table is CMSIS compliant, the following three lines can
be added to FreeRTOSConfig.h to map the FreeRTOS function names to their CMSIS
equivalents:

Using #defines in this way will only work if the default handlers provided
by your development tools are defined as
weak symbols.
If the default handlers are not defined as week symbols they must be either
commented out or deleted.

Stack overflow is by far the most common source of support requests. The size
of the stack available to a task is set using the usStackDepth parameter of
the xTaskCreate() or xTaskCreateStatic() API function.

Try
increasing the size of the stack allocated to the task that is causing the problem, or reducing the amount of stack that the task utilises. Don't write interrupt service routines that require
a lot of stack.

Tasks that make calls to any string formatting functions are likely to require a lot of stack - particularly when using the GCC compiler. Such tasks are particularly prone to stack overflow.

Each byte of the task stack is set to 0xa5 when the task is created, making it relatively simple to see if a stack overflow has occurred. In addition - the function usTaskCheckFreeStackSpace()
in tasks.c demonstrates how the stack usage can be checked at run time (although this is a somewhat inefficient function so should only be used for debugging).

Interrupts are not executing
First, be absolutely sure the issue is related to FreeRTOS by trying to use
the interrupt is a simple basic application that is not using FreeRTOS.

If a FreeRTOS API function is called before the scheduler has been started
then interrupts will deliberately be left disabled, and not re-enable again
until the first task starts to execute. This is done to protect the system
from crashes caused by interrupts attempting to use FreeRTOS API functions
during system initialisation, before the scheduler has been started, and
while the scheduler may be in an inconsistent state.

Do not alter the microcontroller interrupt enable bits or priority flags
using any method other than calls to taskENTER_CRITICAL() and taskEXIT_CRITICAL().
These macros keep a count of their call nesting depth to ensure interrupts
become enabled again only when the call nesting has unwound completely to
zero. Be aware that some library functions may themselves enable and disable
interrupts.

I added a simple task to a demo, and now the demo crashes!
Creating a task requires memory to be obtained from the kernel heap. Many of the demo application projects
dimension the heap to be just big enough to run the demo tasks - so not big enough for any further tasks to be added to the project. The idle task is
automatically created when you start the RTOS scheduler. If there is insufficient heap available for the idle task to be created then vTaskStartScheduler() will
return - causing the application to never even start.

Using API functions within interrupts
Do not use API functions within interrupt service routines unless the name of the API function ends with "...FromISR()".

ARM Cortex-M3, ARM Cortex-M4 and ARM Cortex-M7 users - please note -
this is the cause of 95% of support requests on ARM Cortex-M devices:

[A separate page is also provided that explains ARM Cortex-M
interrupt priorities, and gives full information on setting ARM Cortex-M interrupt
priorities for use with the powerful FreeRTOS interrupt nesting model.]

API functions must not be called from an interrupt if
the interrupt has a priority above the priority set by configMAX_SYSCALL_INTERRUPT_PRIORITY. Note carefully the following points when setting an interrupt priority:

configMAX_SYSCALL_INTERRUPT_PRIORITY is defined in FreeRTOSConfig.h. On ARM Cortex-M3 devices, a numerically low interrupt priority value represents a logically high interrupt priority. Do not leave an
interrupt priority unassigned because it will use priority 0 by default. Priority 0 is the highest possible interrupt priority and will be above configMAX_SYSCALL_INTERRUPT_PRIORITY.

Take care when specifying a priority as different ARM Cortex-M3 implementations use a different number of priority bits.

Internally the ARM Cortex-M3 uses the 'n' most significant bits of a byte to represent an interrupt priority, where 'n' is implementation defined as noted above. ARM and various ARM Cortex-M3 licensees
provide library functions to allow interrupt priorities to be assigned, but some expect the priority to be shifted into the most significant bits before the library function is called, whereas
others will perform the shift internally.

The bits that define an interrupt priority are split between those that represent the preemption priority, and those that represent the sub priority. For greatest simplicity and
compatibility, ensure that all the priority bits are assigned as 'preemption priority' bits.

The RTOS scheduler crashes when attempting to start the first task
If you are using an ARM7 target then the processor must be in Supervisor mode when the RTOS scheduler is started.

The interrupt enable flag gets set incorrectly
Do not use any method for disabling and enabling interrupts other than calls to portENTER_CRITICAL() and portEXIT_CRITICAL(). These macros keep a count of the call nesting depth to ensure interrupts
only become enabled again when the call nesting has unwound completely to zero.

If a FreeRTOS API function is called before the scheduler has been started
then most FreeRTOS ports will deliberately disable interrupts, and not
re-enable them until the first task starts to execute. This is done to
protect the system from crashes caused by interrupts attempting to use
FreeRTOS API functions during system initialization, before the scheduler
has been started.

My application crashes before the RTOS scheduler is even started
A context switch cannot occur until after the RTOS scheduler has started. Any interrupt service routine that could potentially cause a context switch must therefore not be permitted to
execute prior to the RTOS scheduler being started. The same is true of any interrupt service routine that attempts to send to or receive from a queue or semaphore.

Many API functions cannot be called prior to the RTOS scheduler being started. It is best to restrict such usage to the creation of the tasks, queues and semaphores that will be used once
the RTOS scheduler activity has commenced.

Suspending the RTOS scheduler (calling vTaskSuspendAll()) causes me problems
Do not call API functions while the RTOS scheduler is suspended. Some functions can be used, but not all. This is not the intended purpose of the suspension mechanism.

I have created a new application - but it will not compile
Base new applications on the provided demo project file for the port you are using. This way you will be sure that the correct files are included and the compiler is correctly configured.